If North Dakota's oil industry could be represented by a single personality, it would be Continental Resources founder Harold Hamm. So when Hamm says he's laying down his drilling rigs because low oil prices mean there's no margin in operating them, it got a lot of attention from the public.

Oil tax revenues, both directly and indirectly, provide the lion's share of our state's funding. Is it time to panic? Not yet says Justin Kringstad, the executive director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority.

"No major warning signs to start panicking about, but we'll keep watching it," he said on this episode of Plain Talk. "If the announcement by Continental is the start of something bigger, then absolutely, we certainly need to get on top of that right away and understand what the impacts would be for the state and as a whole."

"We need to watch the rig counts closely," he added.

What prompted Hamm to act, Kringstad said, is a global oversupply of oil. Asked if President Donald Trump's push to bring more Venezuelan oil to the marketplace is a part of that problem, Kringstad said not yet.

"The Venezuelan situation, just stepping back and looking at global oil markets, is not a major impact at all really on any of key markets" for the time being, he said.

Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I discuss the debate over universal school meals at the special session in Bismarck

If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It's super easy — leave your message, tell us your name and where you're from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below.

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In North Dakota, the 2026 election cycle isn't really going to be about whether our state is governed by Republicans or Democrats. It's going to be about which type of Republicans hold the majority.

So far, the state's traditional Republicans have been successful in holding the line against a rising tide of populists invigorated by the Trump era, but the populists have managed to capture control of key leadership positions within the NDGOP. They hold a slim majority of district chairs, which in turn has allowed them to elect one of their own as state party chair.

The populists will likely endorse their preferred candidates at the party's local and statewide conventions. The tradional, normie Republicans will mostly take their case to the voters on the June primary ballot.

District 3, in Minot, may well be key ground in this battle. The state House incumbents here are Rep. Jeff Hoverson and Rep. Lori VanWinkle, two bible-thumping religious zealots who are notorious for promoting culture war issues and little else. They face a challenge from Tim Mihalick and Blaine DesLauriers, who say they'd like to go to Bismarck to support Gov. Kelly Armstrong's agenda.

"I really like what Governor Armstrong has brought to the table," DesLauriers said on this episode of Plain Talk. "I think he needs more allies that think and act like him and that's what I want to do."

For his part, Mihalick says he'd like to bring a more collaborative approach to the legislature. Reacting to comments Hoverson made declaring people who disagree with him as "enemies," Mihalick says he doesn't see politics that way.

"I don't see [political opponents] as my enemies," he told us. "I spent my life negotiating and recognizing that everybody needs to win when you complete a deal."

We asked the two candidates if Armstrong asked them to run. "Yeah, he did," Mihalick said. DesLauier said that while Armstrong hasn't officially backed their candidacies yet, "we're expecting his endorsement."

Also on this episode, we discussed the ongoing questions about finances at the F5 Project, a high-profile, Fargo-based nonprofit. Me and co-host Chad Oban also discussed the resgination of Nico Rios, and the upcoming special session.

If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It's super easy — leave your message, tell us your name and where you're from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below.

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Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak says that she doesn't agree with how Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has handled the situation around the shooting death of Renee Good, and ICE's overall activities in Minnesota.

Within hours of Good's death, Noem called her a "terrorist, something Fedorchak says she doesn't agree with.

North Dakota's congresswoman criticized the modern tendency to "respond too quickly in our culture" and come to "rash judgments with very little information," noting that she's personally avoided these things in her own messaging.

"We need more calm voices leading the charge," she said.

Fedorchak also defended her decision to vote against extending enhanced subsidies for people purchasing their insurance through the federal exchanges, raising concerns about fraud in the program. "We've got 34 million people, 34% of that program, is going to fraudulent participants," she said. "Like, this is not the kind of government that I can get behind. And so extending that for three more years is just intolerable to me."

"The solution is not throwing $80 billion at a broken system," she continued. "For $80 billion, we still have patients receiving significant increases, even with a subsidy in their insurance, and no solutions and continued wasted money and fraud. I can't get behind that."

Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I discuss the on-going turmoil around ICE's activities in Minnesota, as well as the lawsuits filed by Minnesota and Illinois against the federal government.

If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It's super easy — leave your message, tell us your name and where you're from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below.

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